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year. This figure is important, since it shows to what extent a
population is growing by natural means. It does not give any
indication of the extent to which the population is growing by
immigration or declining by emigration.
Table XXIII. gives the mean annual birth rates and death
rates for each five year period since the creation of the borough.
The table also gives the mean annual natural increase of the population
per 1,000 living for each period. Examination of this table
will show that, while the disquieting features which are so evident
in the figures for the country as a whole are not so marked in
the case of West Ham, there are nevertheless several factors
which are shown up in their true light when they are examined
over periods of several years. The fall in the death rate from all
causes is highly praiseworthy, but the maximum extent of this
decline—as judged by the difference between the highest and the
lowest quinquennial rates—has been in the region of only 42 per
cent. The corresponding decline in the birth rate has been 56
per cent. It is obvious that, although the population of West
Ham is continuing to grow slightly apart from the influence of
immigation, the time is not far distant when the slight natural